Death in D&D is awfully hard to do (fail three death saving throws before you win three death saving throws)

Which is basically a 50/50 chance. A nat 20 brings you automatically back to 1hp and a nat 1 gives you 2 failed saves, so it's actually about 49.5% that you'll die, 50.5% that you'll survive, but still pretty close to 50/50. Plus, if you take damage equal to your max HP, you automatically die. (You have 23hp maximum and take 24hp of damage, there will be no death saving throws. You just dead).

It is still much, MUCH, MUCH harder to die than in 1st-3rd Edition. That was the point.

Yep. Which I am glad of. For us DM's the hardest job has been to challenge without actually killing, and 5E has definitely made it easier to do this.

_________________Since its 20,000 I suggest "Captain Nemo" as his title. Beyond the obvious connection, he is one who sails on his own terms and ignores those he doesn't agree with...confident in his journey and goals.Sounds obvious to me! -Gm Michael

Grand Knight Commander of the Society.

Tue May 12, 2015 4:49 pm

Arduin

Greater Lore Drake

Joined: Tue Sep 27, 2011 6:12 pmPosts: 4045Location: Granite quarry

Re: D&D 5th Edition Discussion

Treebore wrote:

Arduin wrote:

AGNKim wrote:

Litzen Tallister wrote:

Death in D&D is awfully hard to do (fail three death saving throws before you win three death saving throws)

Which is basically a 50/50 chance. A nat 20 brings you automatically back to 1hp and a nat 1 gives you 2 failed saves, so it's actually about 49.5% that you'll die, 50.5% that you'll survive, but still pretty close to 50/50. Plus, if you take damage equal to your max HP, you automatically die. (You have 23hp maximum and take 24hp of damage, there will be no death saving throws. You just dead).

It is still much, MUCH, MUCH harder to die than in 1st-3rd Edition. That was the point.

Yep. Which I am glad of. For us DM's the hardest job has been to challenge without actually killing, and 5E has definitely made it easier to do this.

For "us Gm's"? Not for myself. And certainly not to the point where I want PC's being able to take double their HP without croaking. If you can scale for that it is as easy to scale for half that.

Death in D&D is awfully hard to do (fail three death saving throws before you win three death saving throws)

Which is basically a 50/50 chance. A nat 20 brings you automatically back to 1hp and a nat 1 gives you 2 failed saves, so it's actually about 49.5% that you'll die, 50.5% that you'll survive, but still pretty close to 50/50. Plus, if you take damage equal to your max HP, you automatically die. (You have 23hp maximum and take 24hp of damage, there will be no death saving throws. You just dead).

It is still much, MUCH, MUCH harder to die than in 1st-3rd Edition. That was the point.

Yep. Which I am glad of. For us DM's the hardest job has been to challenge without actually killing, and 5E has definitely made it easier to do this.

For "us Gm's"? Not for myself. And certainly not to the point where I want PC's being able to take double their HP without croaking. If you can scale for that it is as easy to scale for half that.

I've found that it doesn't really matter. It allows them to go unconscious, and if the party can ultimately win the fight, everyone lives without actually dying. If the party cannot ultimately win the fight, the unconscious still die. Plus, the saves give the unconscious something to do every round, rather than sit there and do nothing. So they stay engaged instead of zoning out until the battle is over. So over all, I like it. Plus, if I really want them to die, there is nothing stopping me from having the bad guys cut the throats of the unconscious.

_________________Since its 20,000 I suggest "Captain Nemo" as his title. Beyond the obvious connection, he is one who sails on his own terms and ignores those he doesn't agree with...confident in his journey and goals.Sounds obvious to me! -Gm Michael

Grand Knight Commander of the Society.

Tue May 12, 2015 5:29 pm

Arduin

Greater Lore Drake

Joined: Tue Sep 27, 2011 6:12 pmPosts: 4045Location: Granite quarry

Re: D&D 5th Edition Discussion

Treebore wrote:

I've found that it doesn't really matter. It allows them to go unconscious, and if the party can ultimately win the fight, everyone lives without actually dying. If the party cannot ultimately win the fight, the unconscious still die.

That's correct only if the PC's want to fight to a win or die every-time. Otherwise it DOES matter. Very one dimensional players that work that way. I've had countless games where a PC dies and the rest of the party escapes. So not dead is VERY different than dead.

As a GM I was not against resurrection so much as I made it rare so that it didn't become a "right" of the PC.

At least until the party reached 9th level, and the party Cleric, or Clerics, could cast Raise Dead. Assuming the Cleric isn't the one who died.

Before then, I've had players try out Reincarnate, which I love, because it gives me an excuse to break out the 2E Complete Humanoids book.

_________________Since its 20,000 I suggest "Captain Nemo" as his title. Beyond the obvious connection, he is one who sails on his own terms and ignores those he doesn't agree with...confident in his journey and goals.Sounds obvious to me! -Gm Michael

I've found that it doesn't really matter. It allows them to go unconscious, and if the party can ultimately win the fight, everyone lives without actually dying. If the party cannot ultimately win the fight, the unconscious still die.

That's correct only if the PC's want to fight to a win or die every-time. Otherwise it DOES matter. Very one dimensional players that work that way. I've had countless games where a PC dies and the rest of the party escapes. So not dead is VERY different than dead.

You do realize I have been typically running or playing in at least one game per week, usually 2 or more, for close to 30 years, right?

_________________Since its 20,000 I suggest "Captain Nemo" as his title. Beyond the obvious connection, he is one who sails on his own terms and ignores those he doesn't agree with...confident in his journey and goals.Sounds obvious to me! -Gm Michael

Grand Knight Commander of the Society.

Tue May 12, 2015 9:29 pm

Daniel

Red Cap

Joined: Wed Apr 15, 2015 8:31 pmPosts: 216Location: Burbank CA USA

Re: D&D 5th Edition Discussion

Treebore wrote:

You do realize I have been typically running or playing in at least one game per week, usually 2 or more, for close to 30 years, right?

So if you were being paid minimum wage, what would you have earned playing or GMing?

You do realize I have been typically running or playing in at least one game per week, usually 2 or more, for close to 30 years, right?

So if you were being paid minimum wage, what would you have earned playing or GMing?

Best guesstimate is $47,000.00

_________________Since its 20,000 I suggest "Captain Nemo" as his title. Beyond the obvious connection, he is one who sails on his own terms and ignores those he doesn't agree with...confident in his journey and goals.Sounds obvious to me! -Gm Michael

Grand Knight Commander of the Society.

Wed May 13, 2015 1:06 am

Arduin

Greater Lore Drake

Joined: Tue Sep 27, 2011 6:12 pmPosts: 4045Location: Granite quarry

Re: D&D 5th Edition Discussion

Treebore wrote:

You do realize I have been typically running or playing in at least one game per week, usually 2 or more, for close to 30 years, right?

You do realize that I've been playing and running games weekly for 38 years, right?

You do realize I have been typically running or playing in at least one game per week, usually 2 or more, for close to 30 years, right?

You do realize that I've been playing and running games weekly for 38 years, right?

Yeah, but I don't chat with you like you haven't.

_________________Since its 20,000 I suggest "Captain Nemo" as his title. Beyond the obvious connection, he is one who sails on his own terms and ignores those he doesn't agree with...confident in his journey and goals.Sounds obvious to me! -Gm Michael

You do realize I have been typically running or playing in at least one game per week, usually 2 or more, for close to 30 years, right?

You do realize that I've been playing and running games weekly for 38 years, right?

You both have me beat.

I can't say weekly because I did take breaks for some things in my life. But I am duly impressed that you both could remain loyal enough to the game to have never taken breaks. Wow.

Well, it hasn't always been D&D/C&C, or some close iteration there of. As I think we have chatted about before, I've played a lot of RPG's, for long periods of times. I've probably spent my longest periods running Legend of the 5 Rings, Traveller, Rifts, and Synnibar, outside of D&D, that is.

I said "typically" because I have been forced to take months off from gaming, either due to moving across the country, medical issues, etc... but when I am healthy and able to do what I want to do, it involves gaming. Which is why I am in 3.5 (one is bi weekly, the other 3 are weekly) games per week right now. Heck, even when I was in Vegas last week, I still made part of 2 of my games, but missed 2 of them entirely. So yeah, I really enjoy gaming, even after all of these years.

Edit: Forgot Shadowrun. I've spent well over a year of my life playing Shadowrun.

_________________Since its 20,000 I suggest "Captain Nemo" as his title. Beyond the obvious connection, he is one who sails on his own terms and ignores those he doesn't agree with...confident in his journey and goals.Sounds obvious to me! -Gm Michael

Grand Knight Commander of the Society.

Wed May 13, 2015 5:40 am

Jyrdan Fairblade

Unkbartig

Joined: Thu May 11, 2006 7:00 amPosts: 947

Re: D&D 5th Edition Discussion

There’s something weird I’ve noticed with the whole death saves thing. In the middle of a battle, most of the group will fight on to try to kill the monsters, rather than try to stabilize their companions (Other than Litzen, who’s playing a cleric). It’s made for some rather tense moments.

Treebore wrote:

I've found that it doesn't really matter. It allows them to go unconscious, and if the party can ultimately win the fight, everyone lives without actually dying. If the party cannot ultimately win the fight, the unconscious still die. Plus, the saves give the unconscious something to do every round, rather than sit there and do nothing. So they stay engaged instead of zoning out until the battle is over. So over all, I like it. Plus, if I really want them to die, there is nothing stopping me from having the bad guys cut the throats of the unconscious.

Wed May 13, 2015 2:34 pm

Arduin

Greater Lore Drake

Joined: Tue Sep 27, 2011 6:12 pmPosts: 4045Location: Granite quarry

Re: D&D 5th Edition Discussion

Jyrdan Fairblade wrote:

There’s something weird I’ve noticed with the whole death saves thing. In the middle of a battle, most of the group will fight on to try to kill the monsters, rather than try to stabilize their companions (Other than Litzen, who’s playing a cleric). It’s made for some rather tense moments.

There's an optional level-up system in the DMG that I use: First session takes you to level 2 and second session takes you to level 3. From this point it takes two sessions to go up one level. That's 36 sessions to level 20 if my math-fu is correct (which is very unlikely).

It works fine in my group

I don't remember that rule, but I don't use the DMG much and haven't read it all cover-to-cover. That seems like a really rapid advancement rate to me.

I know in some of the modules they have a method where you can level up characters at certain benchmark places in teh module, but it's not quite one level per two sessions but instead one level per "episode" and each episode can last 3-4 games easy. I have my Hoard of the Dragon Queen data organized by episode number, so here's how fast we would have advanced by that rule:Episode 1 = 2 sessions (level 2 by session 2)Episode 2 = 2 sessions (level 3 by session 4)Episode 3 = 4 sessions (level 4 by session 8)Episode 4 = 3 sessions (level 5 by session 11)Episode 5 = 2 sessions (they suggest no level-up here)Episode 6 = 7 sessions (level 6 by 20 sessions)Episode 7 = 2 sessions (level 7 by 22 sessions)Episode 8 = 5 sessions (level 8 by 27 sessions)

Like I posted earlier, we have played for over 60 hours, gotten most of the way through the first two Dragon (Tiamat) adventures, and my group is only 4th level, and we have had 2 character deaths. I presume the GM has us advancing as intended.

_________________Since its 20,000 I suggest "Captain Nemo" as his title. Beyond the obvious connection, he is one who sails on his own terms and ignores those he doesn't agree with...confident in his journey and goals.Sounds obvious to me! -Gm Michael

Hoard of the Dragon Queen is now available for Fantasy Grounds 2. The Smitewerks team is hoping the Rise of Tiamat and Princes of the Apocalypse will be out within the month.

But the big thing is HODQ is only $19.99.

I am passing on the Fantasy Grounds stuff. But I am glad they seem to be trying to get all the content up quickly for those who are looking to use it.

FG2 was an investment I made back around 2009 and Upgraded to the Ultimate Edition in late 2010. I've put quite a few hours into learning how to use the game, learning more than I ever wanted to know about Port Forwarding, and then of course gaming. I've run or played D&D 3.5, Pathfinder on it, C&C and a friend's Victorian Era game (now called Airship Empires). It's been a great way to game with friends near and far. Over time, I've managed to pick up Savage Worlds, Mutants & Masterminds and now D&D 5e, though I pretty much just use it for my C&C game.

IIRC, Fantasy Grounds was supposed to have a license for D&D several years ago, I think before 4th Edition came out, but WOTC pulled when they decided to go out on the own. Glad to see they resolved any issues and now working together. It really does a great job, and the 5e Ruleset makes things really easy for gamers. There's been a lot of conversation on steam to make this into a Character Sheet maker or some assume that is what is, but they just can't print it. The drop and drag stuff is great.

It's certainly not for everyone, and while it's not a face to face game, I does work for me.

Sat May 23, 2015 6:40 pm

Arduin

Greater Lore Drake

Joined: Tue Sep 27, 2011 6:12 pmPosts: 4045Location: Granite quarry

Re: D&D 5th Edition Discussion

TheMetal1 wrote:

Daniel wrote:

TheMetal1 wrote:

Hoard of the Dragon Queen is now available for Fantasy Grounds 2. The Smitewerks team is hoping the Rise of Tiamat and Princes of the Apocalypse will be out within the month.

But the big thing is HODQ is only $19.99.

I am passing on the Fantasy Grounds stuff. But I am glad they seem to be trying to get all the content up quickly for those who are looking to use it.

FG2 was an investment I made back around 2009 and Upgraded to the Ultimate Edition in late 2010. I've put quite a few hours into learning how to use the game, learning more than I ever wanted to know about Port Forwarding, and then of course gaming. I've run or played D&D 3.5, Pathfinder on it, C&C and a friend's Victorian Era game (now called Airship Empires). It's been a great way to game with friends near and far. Over time, I've managed to pick up Savage Worlds, Mutants & Masterminds and now D&D 5e, though I pretty much just use it for my C&C game.

IIRC, Fantasy Grounds was supposed to have a license for D&D several years ago, I think before 4th Edition came out, but WOTC pulled when they decided to go out on the own. Glad to see they resolved any issues and now working together. It really does a great job, and the 5e Ruleset makes things really easy for gamers. There's been a lot of conversation on steam to make this into a Character Sheet maker or some assume that is what is, but they just can't print it. The drop and drag stuff is great.

It's certainly not for everyone, and while it's not a face to face game, I does work for me.

Great to hear WotC came to terms. Will help their sales in the long run and "P&P" RPGing too.

Looks like Rise of Tiamat is now available for Fantasy Grounds D&D 5e Ruleset, on sale for $13.99.

With the Steam summer sale, all the D&D 5e stuff FG is on sale as well. The D&D 5e Complete Core Character and Complete Core Monster Packs are $34.99 each.

Did they fix it so you could print out a Character sheet?

Is it still only usable when hooked up to their servers?

Thu Jun 18, 2015 3:43 pm

darkpaladin45

Mist Elf

Joined: Sat Jun 06, 2015 7:21 amPosts: 27Location: Olathe, KS

Re: D&D 5th Edition Discussion

Daniel wrote:

TheMetal1 wrote:

Looks like Rise of Tiamat is now available for Fantasy Grounds D&D 5e Ruleset, on sale for $13.99.

With the Steam summer sale, all the D&D 5e stuff FG is on sale as well. The D&D 5e Complete Core Character and Complete Core Monster Packs are $34.99 each.

Did they fix it so you could print out a Character sheet?

Is it still only usable when hooked up to their servers?

There was a user that was working on a tool that would take an exported character and generate a character sheet from it. Here is the thread over on their boards. I downloaded it and used it a couple of times a few months ago. I do remember having some trouble getting the tool downloaded, but it seem to work once I did. I'll do some more digging and see if I can find anymore information.

As for hooked up to their servers, I'm not sure exactly what you mean. You have to own a license to be able to use Fantasy Grounds, or be connected to someone that has a valid license.

-Chris

Fri Jun 19, 2015 1:59 am

darkpaladin45

Mist Elf

Joined: Sat Jun 06, 2015 7:21 amPosts: 27Location: Olathe, KS

Re: D&D 5th Edition Discussion

It looks like the creator of the tool moved it to be a web based app, now. Here is the direct link to the tool. The only hiccup that I've found so far is that if your character doesn't have any spells, make sure to uncheck the "Show Spells" box before clicking print, or you will get an error. Other than that, it seems to work fairly well. The quick and dirty steps are,

1. Export the character from Fantasy Grounds, which will create an .xml file. (Type "/exportchar character's name" in the chat window of Fantasy Grounds, and it will open a save window so you can name, and save, the .xml file)2. Go to the character sheet link here.3. Use Choose file to select the .xml file you exported.4. Enter the player's name5. Uncheck "Show Spells" if your character has no spells6. Click the Print button, and a few moments it will generate and display a Character Sheet PDF that you can print or save.

Looks like Rise of Tiamat is now available for Fantasy Grounds D&D 5e Ruleset, on sale for $13.99.

With the Steam summer sale, all the D&D 5e stuff FG is on sale as well. The D&D 5e Complete Core Character and Complete Core Monster Packs are $34.99 each.

Did they fix it so you could print out a Character sheet?

Is it still only usable when hooked up to their servers?

There isn't any servers that Fantasy Grounds 2 uses. Like darkpaladin45 said once you own the game you own it, unless you're doing the subscription. Then you're just sort of renting the program.

As an Ultimate license holder (or regular lisence holder for that matter) I don't need to be connected to anything to use the program, manage my campaign or characters. If you play pathfinder and have Hero Lab you can import/export your character from Hero Lab (and iIRC back) and print from that.

He may be thinking about how Steam generally works, which does force you to either sign into their servers, or play in offline mode.

_________________Since its 20,000 I suggest "Captain Nemo" as his title. Beyond the obvious connection, he is one who sails on his own terms and ignores those he doesn't agree with...confident in his journey and goals.Sounds obvious to me! -Gm Michael

Grand Knight Commander of the Society.

Fri Jun 19, 2015 5:19 pm

Michael Montalto

Ungern

Joined: Fri Oct 03, 2014 2:39 pmPosts: 60Location: Naperville, IL

Re: D&D 5th Edition Discussion

I see a lot of responses here relative to the system. I suppose for me the biggest thing that I've always liked about TSR & Wizards of the Coast was their Adventures and their campaign settings.

The top 30 modules of all time have some incredible story telling points to them. Ravenloft, ToEE, The Tomb of Horrors, The Queen of the Spiders. I have not found a single organization that has been able to come anywhere close to meeting my expectations to those classics. I think we have all enjoyed the Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, Dark Sun, Planescape settings and no one can doubt that they highly resonated with their fan base.

As far as systems go, I'm a real fan of the C&C system. I haven't found another fantasy based system that I enjoy more and that is easier to teach and share with my friends and family. Man oh man though, what I wouldn't do to come across a C&C based mega adventure that has the depth of some of the adventures that I have mentioned previously. I'm in no way suggesting that their adventures are not good. I'm simply saying that one thing that I really like that Wizards of the Coast is doing is focusing on delivering great content to their fan base with these new mega adventures.

The new hardcovers for adventures? GREAT IDEA! Taking a single campaign and putting it into 2 hard cover books that take you from levels 1-7 & 7-15? HELL YES!

The Advantages / Disadvantages rule? LOVE! Why the hell wasn't this thought of years ago? I'm using this in my own C&C games!

I just want the content to be well delivered and the stories to really come alive. I'm OK with all of the prep work that I have to do for my family so that they can enjoy a couple of weekends of play where I Have spent countless hours taking notes to make the story come to life for them.

I wasn't inclined to look at D&D 5th Edition until recently when I was reading that favorable reviews for the core rulebooks. What has made me continue to look deeply into it however are their new format for long adventures. That being said, I'm not sold however on purchasing an entirely new system. What I'm truly interested in is obtaining a setting that I love, with adventures (stories) that are truly epic, well thought out, and delivered in a timeless way.

I have very high hopes for the Codex of Aihrde and will continue to run my players through the A-series modules. If however C&C came up with a hardcover grouping of adventures that they really put a lot of thought into I would buy them in a HEARTBEAT. The closet C&C was able to come thus far was Castle Zagyg (and unfortunately we all know how that ended). For me, it's always going to be about the stories.

As a couple of asides. I do happen to really like that the Trolls are a small, American company that is accessible, hard working and built by gamers. I like the fact that I know I'm supporting people like me who are doing what they love to do and helping thousands of other people spend time with one another in an enjoyable way.

Regardless of how many dice I roll, at the end of the day I would rather enjoy the fact that I know I'm doing with my children, the same thing that I used to do as a kid that brought me so much joy in my life. That means more to me than anything else.

Finally, I am a HUGE fan of the books in PDF format. I always purchase BOTH the hard copy as well as the PDF and I am MORE than happy to pay the extra money to do so. I'm in IT professionally so I understand the value of being able to locate my information quickly through search. I'll even go so far as to say that I prefer high quality PDF's to books. They are easier to read on my Mac/iPad and I particularly love the fact that the guys will send you updated copies of the PDF when they release new versions of the book. These core, reasonable, responsible and fan focused reasons are why I support Troll Lord Games as a company. I try to teach that to my boys as well. Because for me it's not just about the quality of the artwork.

It's about good people, spending great time together telling stories using a system and a set of groundwork that has been published by a great company.

You should check out Frog God Games, the successor to Necromancer Games. They do solid, long, adventures. Plus they tend to put all of them out in several systems, Pathfinder, Swords and Wizardry, and recently 5E. All of which convert to C&C easily enough.

_________________Since its 20,000 I suggest "Captain Nemo" as his title. Beyond the obvious connection, he is one who sails on his own terms and ignores those he doesn't agree with...confident in his journey and goals.Sounds obvious to me! -Gm Michael

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